Has Sir John Got It Right Again?
It must be sometime in the mid-1990s, when I saw John Major give a speech and take questions in the Cambridge Chief Executives Club. He gave his views on Black Wednesday, Kosovo and the Euro amongst other topics. To say it was impressive at the time, would be an understatement, as most of the things he said would happen did.
So the fact that Sir John is now saying the worst might be over, may in itself be indicative of the fact that it is! He spoke on the Andrew Marr show this morning and this is an extract.
Recovery begins from the darkest moment. I’m not certain, but I think we have passed the darkest moment.
There are some oddities in the figures at the moment: Why in the depths of this recession is employment growing? Why is industrial production going up? Why has the stock market risen?
“There are things happening out there that will become apparent and we don’t quite know why or how. My guess – and this is something a minister can’t say but I can – is that in due course we will find that we passed the bottom.
The first time was twenty years ago and no-one believed him. Let’s hope this time, that the voters do! But then voters always vote for those who promises them the most.
I think, I’ll form the Pie-In-The-Sky Party!
No-one will pay any Income tax but companies will may 70% Corporation Tax. There will be absolutely no immigration and the NHS will be free, with no prescription charges to all those living here. Oh! And there will be no more subsidies for trains, but we’ll build motorways everywhere, where we can drive cars, that will not have any Road Tax and severely reduced fuel taxes.
At least with all the cars, we’ll be able to drive ourselves to Hell in comfort.
Does A Gluten-Free Diet Help Your Hair?
My last hairdresser always said that my hair grew very fast and in fact for a sixty-five-year-old man, I have a pretty good head of hair.
But what got me thinking was that yesterday The Times showed a list of the best dressed older people. What stood out was their compliments for Katherine, the Duchess of Kent. They said of her that potentially she has the best hair in the Royal Family (including Kate Middleton’s, yes).
And she is 79! It is well-known that she is a coeliac, so it can be assumed that like me she sticks to her gluten-free diet.
I posted this on a coeliac list on the Internet and others said that there could be a connection from personal experience.
Over the past forty years, I’ve had a lot to do with flat race jockeys.
Obviously, to keep their weight down, they eat frugally and the typical gluten-rich snacks, beloved of the general population, are probably never eaten. I remember one meal with Michael Roberts, where he ate baked salmon and peas, followed by some fruit.
But you’ll rarely find a flat race jockey, without a full head of hair! And many are riding well into their forties. The best hair on the current crop of top jockeys must be on Hayley Turner. But then she’s a woman. And a coeliac!
And then we could look at people like Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and others, whose diet is mainly rice-based. They generally seem to my untrained eye to have better hair as they get older, than the average Caucasian.
I do wonder if there is a serious link here. It probably isn’t to coeliac disease, but the diet may be the key. After all, Nottingham University have shown that coeliacs, who stick to the gluten-free diet, have a twenty-five percent less chance of getting cancer. Why this is, no-one knows, but it could just be that a healthy diet, which looks after your gut, gets the maximum amount of good vitamins and minerals into your body.
The Anonymous Widower 